Improvement in harvester-fingers



JOHN R-EfILY, or HEART' PRAIRIE, vwIs'coNsrN.

IMPROVEMENT iNHHARvEsTER-FINGERS.

- Specification forming part of Lct-tersPatent No. 14,790. dated April29, 1856.

' Toall 'whom t may concern.-

Bc it known that I, JOHN REILY, of Heart Prairie, in the county ofyWalworth and State ot' Wisconsin, have inrented certain new and usefulImprovements in Cutting Apparatus ot Reaping and Mowiug Machines, ofwhichthe following is a full, ciear, and exact description,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings of thesame,in which-Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the tooth, showing in red linesthe case-hardened part; Fig. 2, a crosssection of the saine Fig.,

3, a plan of my improved cutter ;'.Fig.` 4,'a front view of thesamc,'showing thev sickle-eyesecured to one end in red lines andthe.otherin black; andiFiga, avmoditication ofmyimproved cutter, therear end of thejseetions heing shown in dotted lines. y

The first branchof my invention relates to the fingers that gather thegrain and support it while beingcut by the sickle, and which have lheretofore beenl made of vcastor wrought iron ;l 4but when made-of suchmaterial it has been found that they wear rapidly away' under the actionof the steel cutters, from the fact of the latter being much harder thanthe iron of the ,fin-gers, the frictiouthus produced requiring a '-Inuchgreater amount cf power to, drive the knife than' would otherwise besufficient if the metals were of the same hardness. fore becomes anobject of importanceto' pro'- vide a tooth that would vpossess therequisite 'degree -of hardness without materially, in

creasing the cost of its manufacture. There is also another reasonl thatrenders it desirablel 'to substitute a h'ardenedtooth for those in common use--to wit, that the friction produced hy the abrasion'ofthe softermetal necessarily `du'lls orbluuts the cutting-edgeso'f the knife,-which causes it rather-to tearI or break the.

-stalksasu-nder-than cut it,in this way requiring more power to operatethe knife, the com bined ei'ect of which is to causethe cutter-bar totwist or break `and otherwise impair the ef- .iiciency vofthe machine bystraningfit-s oper- `ativeparts. v o,

'lo 'supply a tooth that would remedy these defects without materiallyadding to its 'costV 'is one of the featuresjof my present' inventionvand it cohsistsin case-hardening ,thatpartof IT amari-are Vthat steelplateshave heretofore been in" r- 'into the-upper side of thetlnger willbe about equal.

It thereto act asstationary critters; butto these l layv no claim, asthey are'at once cost-ly and liable to g'et out of order.

The tooth a. is lirst forged out of a piece of wrought-iron into theproper shape and proportion,'aud that. part of it on .which the knife'rests filed perfectly smooth and level, and, if necessary,poli'shed. Itis then pnt into the fire and heated to a dull-red heat, when it iswithdrawn and a portionof powdered prussiate of potash spread evenlyoverv it or rubbed in a lump over that part desired lto -be hardened. In'this state it is again submitted to theaction of the fire, and then.immersed in cold water, when the process is complete. Thepart thushardened possesses 'to a' certain 'extent the properties of steel,and,ha.ving been previously polished or smoothed, causes far lessfriction and abrasion as the knife is operated than when the old fingersare used, thus requiring much less power-to drive it; and, as the two(the finger and knife) possess about the same degree of hardness, thewear on their surfaces The wear on the knife, being on itsunder side,will act as a Sharpener, instead of dullingits edge, as heretofore; andthe' edge thus ground on the upperside ofthe vtooth by-the action of theknife willactitself as a cutter onthe principle ofthe shear. To stilllfurther increase this tendency, the .underside of the tooth, immediatelybelow the knife,'in'ay be beveledod, so as to bring its upper sideto anedge, as seen at Fi g. 2. The hardeningpro- Y cess may be eii'ected byanyof the well-known y ject ot' my invention is to combine the two in 4one at a cost little exceeding thatl of a single knife." A knifeconstructed ou this principle is necessarily a little heavy;pbut byusing a 'steel bar to rivet them to, (and which has been commonly usedfor' this purpose bythose whose knives from their peculiar'construotionare heavy, (inetoadof an iron one', its weight will .be materiallylessened andthe effect produced still more'so when used in connectionwith my case-hardened teeth.

On the bnr c, which may either be of steel er iron, are riveted thesections d, having one -sidee, eickledf or cuttin gol' grain and theotherside, j', smooth for mowing, all the sickled edges being securedand projecting over thev sameside of the lmr, while. th'e plain edgesprqiect over the other,4 they being so secured that their oppositepoints shall projectequally, or nearly so, on each side of the bar. sodesirable that the apex of the angles formed by thejn-nction ofthesections should not terminate at the-.edge et' the bar, but that theyshould meet at a short distance from it, as shown in Fig. 5. lun makingthese sections it is not necessary that they should be formed by v theprqiectingpointsota lozenge-shaped blade,

as the blades of each side ofthe knife may be formed of a'separateseries of sections, as seen at Fig. 5, which in some respects ispreferable,

inasmuch as 4the cutting-edge ot' a blade on l one side may be rendereduntfor usm-when it may he removed and another substituted inits stead,whereas i'u the other case-a whole lozenge forming a cutting-edge onboth sides must be sacrificed and,agau,the whole knife may be cutout ofa single sheet of-steel; but

this I do not deem an advisable plan, as4 the It is al'-v destruction ofone of its cutting-edges ma'y reuderthe whole worthless.` l

On the end of the bar c is secured a sickle- 'cyeg, by means vofset-screws h, this being made removable, so that ou turning or changingthe sickled edge round to the rear for the purpose of using thesmooth-edged oneit may be removed from the end suited to the former andsecured to that adapted to thework-ing of thelatter,'both ends of thebar having holes ,i pierced in them for the reception of the setscrewsh, that secure the sickle-eye to the bar. Un the outer extremity-of thesickle-eye isa. mortise, t, through which the bolt that connects itwiththe pitman-rod passes, and by which motion iscommunicatejl t'o the knifefrom the driving-gear'ot' the machine.v -i

Having thus' described my invention, -wliut I claim as new,` und desireto secure by Letters Patent, is- A 1 Hrdening that part of the tooth on.which the lknife works,for the purposessubstautially as herein setforth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto-set my hund in presence of twosubscribing witn .JOHN REILY.

Attestr. y

P- HANNAY, HARRISON W. BUGLE.

